How likely is a Post-Smithist 21st Century?

The current understanding of U.S. hegemony rests on the assumptions of neoclassical theories of both the state and the market. While the service-dominated economy is considered post- Fordist, the rhetoric of the state focuses on institutions of democracy. To what extent is our understanding of democracy dependent on the prior assumptions that the economy is ‘free’? If we reexamine the assumptions about the links between state and economy, drawing on the work of Gramsci, and Polanyi the necessary link between state and economy assumed in our current neoclassical theory looks quite different. The thesis of this research is that hegemonic ideologies of the relationship of state and market reinforce the interests of the commercial class at the expense of any meaningful representation of the working classes. Reconceptualizing the links between state and market in terms of an economics subordinate to social relations beyond those of commercial interests indicates the possibilities of a ‘post- Smithist’ understanding of both the imperfections of neoclassical market theories, and of the narrowness of institutional analyses.